September 26th, 2008

A little follow-up on recent events

So, I announce some interesting event at a bar, like a Boston-New York bartender exchange or a tasting of Old Tom gin, tell everyone to check it out, and then just skip to the next post without recollecting the pleasant times that have given me, as Diana Ross would say, the sweetest hangover. My bad. Here’s a little follow-up on recent events.

That bartender exchange between Eastern Standard and PDT? Well done. I don’t have any intel yet on how ES’s Kevin Martin fared in New York, but it was a pleasure to be PDT bartender Daniel Eun’s patron during his guest stint in Boston. The highlight for me was Daniel’s beer cocktail. It involved a vigorously shaken mixture of Aventinus (a delicious weizenbock from the German brewery G. Schneider & Son), Sailor Jerry Rum, a whole egg and a bit of nutmeg grated over the drink’s frothy crown. As I told a friend, that drink was so good I wanted to marry it. Or at least shack up with it for the winter.

The B-Side Group Hug was a lot of fun, with a roomful of regulars, industry people and cocktailians paying their boozy respects. Would some bartender out there please keep the B-Side’s Tommy Noble cocktail alive? I love this combo of gin, Pimm’s, simple syrup and lemon juice. It’s a great drink to start the evening with, and it’s perfect for brunch, too. Oh, and FYI: B-Side barmen Al and Russ are both doing stints at the old Downtown Crossing haunt Cafe Marliave, which has recently been re-vamped.

Last night at Deep Ellum, a dozen or so people — many of them industry — gathered on the back porch to taste Hayman’s Old Tom Gin and Dolin Vermouth with Eric Seed of the Minnesota-based import company Haus Alpenz. There were people from Rialto, Dante, Eastern Standard, the Wine Bottega and Reservoir Wine & Spirits. Luckily for my lazy ass, Fred and Andrea from the Cocktail Virgin Slut blog were there taking notes, so if you want details on these spirits (and on the Trilby cocktail that bartender Max Toste mixed with them), check out this post. Max also showcased the Old Tom in a Tom Collins and a Ramos Gin Fizz, among other delights.

Thanks again to all of you who make going out to bars in Boston more interesting and fun than ever.

4 Responses to “A little follow-up on recent events”

Fred and I did get a chance to talk to Kevin Monday night. He brought with him a condensed version of Eastern’s menu, and true to Eastern’s form, the menu did not list drink ingredients. This did not go over well at all with PDT’s patrons, and Kevin commented that it was like pulling teeth to get them to order anything off that menu. Eventually he talked them into it (and if anyone could, it would be Kevin). Whereas the drinks that Kevin made were Eastern’s recipes, PDT’s manager insisted on the resident prep techniques. Kevin loved working with the Kold-Draft ice, which tended to make the stirred drinks in particular a bit stronger than ES’s custom. Kevin’s other observations about New York clientele: they like stronger drinks than Bostonians, and they don’t like them as cold, so the larger, uncracked ice worked in his favor. I didn’t think to ask him what the most popular ES cocktail was.

Kevin brought back a couple of precious bottles of Antica Formula, which we got to sample. Mmmmm. Not unlike the Dolin sweet we tried at Deep Ellum.